JOPLIN, Mo. —
When Harry Givens draws the curtain on four decades as a pastor Sunday, he can rest assured that, with God’s help, he made a difference in people‘s lives.
“The end results will have to speak for themselves but if I have accomplished two things, and I think I have in most cases, I am happy,” said Givens, who has spent the last 38 years as pastor of Unity Baptist Church in Joplin. “I am hoping that I have made people more Christ-concerned and more people-concerned, in that order.”
Members of the church, located at 615 Minnesota Ave., will honor their beloved pastor in a special retirement service at 10:55 a.m. Sunday. Givens, who turns 86 on Feb. 13, served two years as pastor of Wood Street Baptist Church in Lebanon, where he was born and raised, before coming to Joplin in 1974.
He became a Christian and was baptized at Wood Street when he was 14, then joined the Marine Corps four years later in the late stages of World War II. As a member of the first 1,000 black soldiers in the Marines, Givens not only fought the enemy on the battlefield, but also among his own ranks in dealing with racial prejudice prevalent during that era.
Following his military service, he took up roots in a few other places before returning to his hometown and starting a janitorial service. He also returned to his home church where he began a stint of 15 years as a deacon. However, that changed when God revealed a different path for him to take.
“On a Wednesday night while I was at prayer meeting, the call came to me that I was going to have to preach,” he said. “I was in my 40s, so this call came late in my life. I fought it until I couldn’t fight it anymore. Even though I had a successful business going, I finally gave into the call.”
Just two years after taking over the helm at the Lebanon church, Givens, as moderator over nine churches in his district, got yet another call from God.
“As moderator, I was working with Unity in Joplin to find them a new pastor,” he said. “They insisted on calling me as their pastor but I didn’t want to do it. And this was another one of those situations where the Lord got my attention. He woke me up at 3 o’clock in the morning and told me to be the pastor at Unity.
“I still didn’t want to go but got tired of fighting, so I made up my mind that if they didn’t offer me the X number of dollars I had in my mind, I was not going to go, and that was my out. Lo and behold, the offer they made was $5 more than I had in mind. So I closed down my business and came to Joplin.”
Regarding his ministry, Givens said a great deal has changed since first taking the pulpit in 1972 to today.
“A lot of people’s values have changed,” he said. “Our values are more materialistic now. Most of us, regardless of who we are, want our children to have better lives than we have had and, as an end result, we have been too easy on our children when they say ‘I want this and I want that.’
“This is OK to a certain point, but when you start giving them everything they want, what is going to happen when they can’t get everything they want?”
The attitudes of parents and children have also gone through a noticeable transformation.
“When I was growing up, whether you wanted to go to church or not, you went,” said Givens, whose health has prevented him from preaching the past few services. “Now it is a whole different story. Parents are not as much in control. Even the parents who are Christian-committed don’t seem to have the push toward their children to be actively involved in church.”
And, yes, church attendance has seen a decline.
“We don’t have nearly as many people 40 years old and under coming to church anymore,” he said.
Address correspondence to Rich Brown, c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, MO 64802, or email richbrown@cableone.net.
Lifestyles
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Harry Givens has been the pastor of Unity Baptist Church for the past 38 years.
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85-year-old pastor stepping down after 40 years in ministry
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